How I Became a Christian My Grandmother was born in 1884 in a log cabin in Decatur, Illinois. Shortly after her birth her mother died o...

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Leaving Insecure Feelings Behind

Leaving Insecure Feelings Behind

It’s easy to feel insecure in this world.People today are performance oriented.And we can be made to feel like failures when
we don’t have a perfect performance record, or when we make a mistake.Since we all make mistakes and are all sinful
we can experience criticism from people in our workplace as well as from
friends and even family when we slip up. And this can cause us to feel even more
insecure and sin and make even more mistakes!

Satan wants to bombard us with negative thoughts about ourselves
and keep us insecure and depressed.How
many people commit suicide because they believe that they aren’t loved and have
failed?These poor souls allow the way
other people treat them to determine their value in their minds! In this blog we will mention a few things that
we Christians can do to help us leave those insecure feelings behind and move
out in the security that is ours in Christ.

Instead of believing
Satan’s lies telling us how bad we are, we can believe God’s Word which tells
us that if we are in Christ we are “righteous”.Scripture says: “God caused Jesus, who had no sin, to become sin for us,
so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”(2 Corinthians 5:21)

Romans 4:24 says, “Righteousness will be given and credited
to us who believe in God, who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”Righteousness is God’s gift to us who believe
in Christ as our Savior. Satan does not
want us to go about our lives understanding that we are covered with the
righteousness of Christ.Let’s start
believing who we really are in Christ!Yes, we are sinners, but we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness and
are dearly loved of God (1 John 4:19) (1 Peter 5:7) Let’s start seeing
ourselves the way we are described in the Bible.. .

Insecurity can hit us in other areas of our lives.In the past when I would be given a difficult
job to do, I would stop and worry.I would
feel insecure taking on a new challenge and fear that I would fail.In the past I would turn down these jobs and
then feel guilty.But then one day when
I was faced with a problem I remembered that God’s Word says that: “I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me.”(Philippians 4:13) Why was I
shaking in my boots about failing when I have Christ? I claimed that verse and my fears lifted a bit
and I felt empowered to do the job in front of me.

So now whenever I am faced with a new challenge I ask God
for the courage and strength to meet it and then I seem to feel stronger, more
secure and freer to move forward with God’s help. It’s really neat!God has given us many promises in his Word
and we can start believing and standing on these promises and stop walking
through life in our own strength and insecurity.Learning to trust God and growing our faith
is an exciting adventure.

Scripture says that we are caught up in a spiritual war here
on earth (the kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of Satan).As long as we live we will have to fight
against evil forces in this world.Negative
feelings, fear, anger, etc. And Scripture also tells us that Satan is our
accuser, (1 Timothy 4:13) He tries to load us down with guilt and with a
critical spirit along with hate and insecurity. Satan wants to break down close
relationships–loving bonds between families, friends, and even nations.How can we feel secure in such a messed up
world?

I personally have often had feelings of insecurity, but when
I remember to bring my problems to Christ I am always comforted and
strengthened. He is my security, my
strength.I am weak but He is strong. You too can find security in Christ.Scripture says that Jesus is the Rock – the
Cornerstone. The cornerstone of a
building is the stronghold that all the other stones are built onto and the
cornerstone holds the building up.

Ephesians 2:20 says: “We are built into the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone.”Jesus mentioned this by saying: “The stone
which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”(Luke 20:17)We are not out there alone and insecure by ourselves but we are part of
the body of Christ and we are built into the temple or the Church with Christ
being what holds us all together - the cornerstone.We can enjoy the security of having Christ in
our lives as our cornerstone.

Often we mess up when we keep trying to “fix” people who are
angry with us (or we are angry with them). Having an argument with another
person can cause us to sin and to feel insecure. We may need to be extra careful when these
problems arise.

If there is a person
or persons who we have big problems with, and we have done everything to make
things right, we can give this person – or persons - to God. Ask God to take
care of this person and bless this person.Let go and let God. Stop expecting
this person to act the way we want him/her to act and forgive her/him. Refuse to play the game of winning arguments.Keep praying and leave the outcome in God’s hands.
Scripture says: “Having done all …stand.” (Ephesians 6:13)

God gives each one of us a gift or gifts – talents that we
can use for Him.(1 Corinthians
12:11)We can overcome insecurity in our
lives to some degree when we discover what God has called us to do – discover
our talents – and use them for Him.(Romans 12:7)And the Holy Spirit
will be our Helper. Jesus said: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you
another Comforter (the Holy Spirit) that He may remain with you forever.”(John 14:16)

Sometimes we become insecure when we are trying to impress
others.St. Paul said: “Am I trying to win the favor
of people or of God?Do I seek to please
people?If I were still trying to
impress people, I should not be a bond servant of Christ.”(Galatians 1:10) You can’t always please everyone else when you
are following Christ! Often you have to
make a choice.

Often we may feel insecure because we cannot pay the bills
or find a job. We worry that our family
will be out on the streets!Perhaps we
have serious health issues or family members are having troubles.There are enough problems to go around and
none of us get through this life without something.When we are going through trying times we can
learn to trust God for help.He promises
to be with us and help us when we call upon Him.

Psalm 46: 1-4 reads:
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.Therefore we will not fear though the earth
be removed.And though the mountains be
carried into the midst of the sea.Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with
its swelling.There is a river whose
streams shall make glad the city of God….”God had always been a reliable help in the
past, so we can trust Him in the future.These verses speak of the raging environment.But then not to worry as there is a peaceful
river in the background.A river of
supply in God’s sanctuary that produces life!

Psalm 46 ends like this: “Be still and know that I am
God.I will be exalted in all the
earth!The Lord of hosts is with
us:The God of Jacob is our
refuge.”(Psalm 46: 10-11)Knowing God involves experiencing times of
silent waiting before Him.We often
forget to spend time listening for God to speak to us.Let us come before God daily and be still
before Him, offering our life to God as a living sacrifice.Then we will have rest for our souls and He
will be our refuge.Then we will find
security in Him and know that He is bigger than all of our troubles.

Some of these ideas were taken from Joyce Meyer’s book,
“Straight Talk”pp.247-322.